Oil theft: Nigeria’s oil revenue suffers further blow as 180,000 bpd Trans-Niger pipeline runs dry

A 180,000 barrels oil pipeline which is capable of moving of crude every day across Nigeria, has stopped transporting the product since the middle of June as a result of theft.

The situation further brings to the numerous unresolved incidents of crude oil theft, which has become a major challenge in the upstream sector of the industry, which some stakeholders have referred to as organized crime.

Nigeria — Africa’s largest oil producer and a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries — has tried to stamp out sabotage on its pipeline network in recent years. Oil theft remains a chronic problem for the midstream system known as the TNP.

According to Bloomberg, an insider who is knowledgeable about the matter but wishes to remain anonymous said that the Trans-Niger pipeline has not yet been officially closed with the communication bandwidth estimated to be about 15% of Nigeria’s latest average daily production output.

Producers received as little as 5% of crude volumes pumped through the pipeline between October 2021 and February, an industry union reported earlier this year. It reflects a larger issue for Nigeria, which is facing shrinking investment and hasn’t been able to meet its OPEC+ oil-production quota in order to benefit from a surge in prices.

The TNP was illegally tapped in about 150 places, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria said in March when local government checked some of the areas where the theft occurred.

Source: Nairametrics, Bloomberg

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